


The Weird Kids

by sonictrowel



Series: Long Night in the Blue House [60]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Children, Family Feels, Gen, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 16:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11339226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonictrowel/pseuds/sonictrowel
Summary: A Time Lady of nearly five years was probably nearly as smart as your average human postgrad student, and a quicker learner.  She just had to remember now and again to do some stuff with crayons and gluing bits of paper or… whatever it was children did.  She had a hard time remembering.  After all, she did want Athena to be able to relate and make friends.  She’d probably never properly met another person her age before.  That would have to be remedied.Because there’d always been one side to her sister that was coolly analytical, quietly observing as the wheels turned in her head, but it was usually hidden under several layers of good-natured sarcasm.  And it was becoming a bit unsettling to see that dispassionate quality so much on display in a five-year-old child.





	The Weird Kids

[Earth, 1938]

Milly had made the decision with her parents long ago (or far in the future, whichever you like,) that she’d tutor Athena personally.  Only, she wondered if they’d really come to that decision or if Athena had just told them that’s what happened.  Thinking about these things too much was never a good idea.

They’d certainly equipped the house well for home schooling, and it wasn’t that they didn’t want her going out in the world, necessarily… though, alright, maybe Milly was feeling a _bit_ protective of her in this sometimes hostile corner of space and time they’d found themselves.  But the thing of it was, Athena wasn’t going to stay in twentieth century Earth forever.  She was a Time Lady; she needed a much broader education if she was going to be prepared for her future.

And she would probably have been so bored at a human primary school she’d start inciting riots.  Milly hadn’t quite observed those tendencies in Athena yet, but she knew it was only a matter of time.

It was a bit mad to think she’d be the one teaching her whip-smart sister, who’d taught her so much growing up.  At least she had experience from being Mum’s teaching aid.  A Time Lady of nearly five years was probably nearly as smart as your average human post-grad student, and a quicker learner.  She just had to remember now and again to do some stuff with crayons and gluing bits of paper or… whatever it was children did.  Milly had a hard time remembering.  After all, she did want Athena to be able to relate and make friends.  She’d probably never properly met another person her age before.  That would have to be remedied.

Because there’d always been one side to her sister that was coolly analytical, quietly observing as the wheels turned in her head, but it was usually hidden under several layers of good-natured sarcasm.  And it was becoming a bit unsettling to see that dispassionate quality so much on display in a five-year-old child.  

And so, in the interest of socialisation, the four of them packed sandwiches and books and headed out to the park one sunny, early autumn afternoon.  They settled in around a bench a few yards from a cluster of children at play.

“Athena,” Milly said when her sister had finished her lunch, “why don’t you go and say hello?”

Athena fixed her with an incredulous stare.  “Hello to whom?”

Oh well, there was no way anyone in their family wasn’t going to be the weird kid.  Hopefully she’d dig up some of that hereditary charisma too.

“Those kids over there look nice, don’t they?” Rory suggested.

Athena turned her stare on the children in question.  “I don’t know.  How can you tell?”

“Generally you’ve got to go and say hi first to find out,” Amy said.  “Don’t worry, if they’re a bunch of little brats you can just tell ’em to shove off and you don’t have to see ’em again.”

“But… they’re probably lovely!”  Rory said, with excessive joviality and a pointed glance at Amy.

“Just go on and say hello,” Milly urged.  “And um, just tell them you’re from England, if they ask.  No need to go into any of the… time and space and alien stuff.”

Athena rolled her eyes and smiled as she stood and dusted off her skirt.  “I know _that.”_

Milly raised her eyebrows and bit her lip against a smile as she watched Athena cross the grass toward the gaggle of children.

“She’s going to be trouble, isn’t she?” Amy asked, her voice laced with amusement.

 _“Oh_ yes.”

“How, uh, much trouble are we talking?” Rory asked cautiously.

“Well, I don’t know... Time Lords have higher intelligence— no offence, I mean—”

“Go on,” Amy laughed.

“And well, you don’t want to let clever kids get bored.  What was Mum like as a kid?”

Rory choked on a bite of his sandwich.

“Well— she was brainwashed, though!” Amy said.

“Yeah, I’m not… totally sure how much of that was brainwashing,” Milly giggled.

They looked in unison over to Athena, gathered with the other children in a rough circle.

“Well, I don’t see anyone punching or crying, that’s a good start,” Amy said hopefully.

“Or biting,” Rory said under his breath.  Amy elbowed him.

After some apparent discussion, a kickball was produced from behind someone’s back and the children scattered over the grass in pursuit, Athena included.

“Well, there you go!  That looks like a success!” Rory cheered.

“Good girl,” Amy smiled.  “I knew she’d do alright.”

It was several hours later, when long shadows were stretching over the park in the golden light, that Athena returned to them, a little out of breath and with a small smile on her face.

“Well, how did it go?”  Amy asked.  “Did you make any friends?”

Athena shrugged.  “There was a boy called Jason, and he told me my name was strange.  I told him my name was from Greek mythology and so was his, and then he said _I_ was strange, and that I talked strangely, and then I told him he was xenophobic.”

Rory suddenly had a small coughing fit.

“And then a girl called Penny said we should play ball so we did that.”

“Did you have fun?” Milly asked.

“Mmhm,” Athena said, taking her hand and smiling.  “Penny says her mum brings her here every Friday.”

“Well, maybe we’ll have to come back so you can play with her again,” Amy said.

Athena looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Is my name weird?”

“Your name’s beautiful!” Milly replied emphatically.  “Stupid boys are just intimidated by goddesses.”

“Only, aren’t we supposed to be hiding here?  I could talk like the other kids,” she said, seamlessly slipping into an American accent, “That’s easy.  But maybe my name _is_ weird.”

“‘Course it’s not!” said Amy.  “And don’t you let any stupid kids make you want to change it.”

“But, aren’t you both Amelia?” she asked, looking from Amy to Milly, “But neither of you is actually called Amelia?”

“I, uh… well... ” Amy frowned helplessly at Milly.

Milly squinted and rubbed her head.  “Mum and Dad met me going by a nickname they hadn’t given me yet?  And it sort of… just…”  She sighed in exasperation.  “I don’t know, it’s just Mum and Dad’s fault.”

Athena giggled.

___

Rory tucked Athena in that night, after she went round the living room giving Milly and Amy each a hug.  In the calm that followed their footsteps retreating up the staircase, Milly could sense Amy’s eyes on her, and a question lingering heavy in the air.

“Milly,” she said, finally breaking the hush that had fallen over them, “you still haven’t actually told me.  About what happens after all this.”

Milly reluctantly met her gaze across the room.

“I don’t mean about me and Rory.  I know we live out our days here.  And that’s fine.  But what about the rest of you?”

“Well, um,” Milly cleared her throat.  “It’s spoilers, you know?”

Amy smiled sadly.  “I know from River’s letters,” she averted her eyes to the floor, “that she dies.  But not for good.  I know you come along after she’s alive again, somehow.  But there’s no letters from River and the Doctor from your time.  They bought this house, put it all together for us, but they didn’t say anything.  All I got was the note with my reading glasses.”

“Maybe they thought they’d already said everything the first time round.  They did send an awful lot of letters.”

“Maybe.  But I think you know more.”

“Just because I know doesn’t mean I can say.”

“You can’t, or you just shouldn’t?”

Milly frowned.

“Let me try you, then.”

After a tense pause, Milly sighed and nodded.  It probably couldn’t hurt… well, not physically.

“Why do the Council think you’re this Hybrid thing?” Amy asked.  “Do they think it’s _both_ of you?”

“They… they think it has something to do with Dad.  They think he ran from Gallifrey when he heard the prophecy, so he must know what it is and must not want anyone to find out.”

“So, then, logically…”

“His hybrid children, yeah.”

“But River, she’s sort of a hybrid too.”

“But as far as Gallifrey knows, she’s confirmed deceased.”

“So then the Doctor, he must mess with all the records again, yeah?  So they don’t find out she’s come back?”

“Something like that.”

“And then they move on to you.  But if Athena’s your big sister, and you’re not even born yet, and they don’t think River’s come back to life… where do they suppose you come from?  And how are they after you both now, when you’re not even from the same time?”

Milly sighed, dropping her head into her hand.  “It was my fault.  They found me, a few years back.  As far as they knew, the Doctor only had one hybrid daughter, and they didn’t think she was around anymore.  They don’t usually go anywhere out of sequence with other Time Lords; it can be dangerous.  Or… just really fucking confusing.”

Amy let out a little breath of laughter, but Milly could sense the tension rolling off of her.

“So I was able to hide out on Darillium for a few years out of sequence.  But then I guess they decided they couldn’t take any chances, and they’d go after me whenever I was, and after Athena too at the last place they could access her timestream.”

“And the last place was on Darillium?  Why?  Where’s Athena when they found you?”

Milly lowered her hand from her forehead, finally looking up to meet Amy’s wide hazel eyes, so much like her own.

She smiled weakly.

“Spoilers.”

**Author's Note:**

> Two in a day again! I am finally closing in on so much plot that's been in the far distance for months now... Thank you so much for sticking with me, dear readers! Would love to hear what you think!


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